B772, en-route, southwest of Belfast UK, 2017

B772, en-route, southwest of Belfast UK, 2017

Summary

On 13 November 2017, fumes on a GE90-powered Boeing 777-200 sufficient to require flight crew oxygen mask use occurred as it descended towards London Heathrow. The flight was completed without further event. Subsequent engineering assessments twice led to release to service followed by recurrence and after the fourth such release, a left engine overheat was annunciated. After flight, a hole in the engine combustor case was found and the engine was removed for repair. The Investigation attributed the delayed identification of the causal fault to inappropriate guidance in the aircraft manufacturer s Fault Isolation Manual which was has since been amended.

Description

On 13 November 2017, a strong smell of fumes became apparent in both the flight deck and passenger cabin of a GE90-85B-powered Boeing 777-200 (G-VIIJ) being operated by British Airways on a scheduled international passenger flight from Houston to London Heathrow with an augmented crew and in descent about an hour from destination. With the fumes continuing and all the pilots on oxygen, an “urgency” message was transmitted to ATC and the aircraft subsequently continued to Heathrow without further event for a daylight landing. None of the 163 occupants were affected by the fumes.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the UK AAIB. It was noted that the 49 year-old Captain had a total of 20,000 flying hours of which 9358 hours were on type. The flying experience of the First Officer and the Relief First Officer was not documented.

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